OnePeterFive article that mentions Communion outside Mass
  • Reval
    Posts: 180
    https://onepeterfive.com/english-hymns-latin-mass/


    The vexing question, therefore, would be: “What was the actual practice at High Masses during the distribution of Communion? Was it English or Latin?” The answer may surprise you. It turns out, it’s impossible to adopt the ‘traditional’ practice, because Holy Communion was seldom distributed to the faithful during Mass (roughly speaking) before the 1950s. Before your head explodes, remember: The truth is stranger than fiction...
    So when exactly did Catholics receive Communion, if doing so along with the Celebrant was rare? They frequently received outside of Mass—very early in the morning—since Catholics in the olden days had to observe the “midnight fast.” For example, a 1943 parish bulletin shows that Saint Agatha’s Church (St. Louis, MO) had the distribution of Communion at 6:15am on Holy Thursday (22 April 1943) followed by a High Mass at 8:30am. The earliness of Mass times would shock many alive today—e.g. at Saint Agatha’s in 1943 the Solemn High Mass on Easter Sunday started at 5:30am!


    I thought this was an interesting article, but I am left a bit confused about the distribution of communion outside Mass. How did this happen, was there a service for this?

    Can anyone tell me more?
  • FSSPmusic
    Posts: 217
    Confiteor and absolution at the beginning, closing prayers and a blessing (Benedictio Dei omnipotentis, etc.) afterward, very simple.
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    I would be very reluctant to describe it as a service or liturgy, merely a brief rite for the administration of a sacrament. One of my old priests recalled that in Dublin in the years leading up to the council, the custom in the city churches was for a second priest to begin distributing Communion at the offertory, pausing only for the Consecration. He added, "It would be unthinkable to do that today!"

    Regarding the article, I encourage you to read paragraph 14 of De musica sacra et sacra liturgia for yourself. The author comes to the exact opposite conclusion of what the document actually states.
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  • Reval
    Posts: 180
    This is very interesting. So was this routinely done, everywhere? People would just pop in to receive Communion at the beginning of their day?
  • FSSPmusic
    Posts: 217
    Most typically right before or after Mass I think. The practice mentioned from Ireland was for Sunday Masses, which were full, to keep the Mass short enough for the next one to start on time.
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,723
    to keep the Mass short enough for the next one to start on time
    This is one of the (rather hysterical) arguments I've heard made against the use of the communion rail (ie-that communion "takes too long" when a rail is employed). My experience is exactly the opposite in all cases; typically rails facilitate a much quicker communion for all involved because the priest can cycle more quickly because people are ready by the time he gets to them, and then there is plenty of time for others to get settled before he makes it back around. Then there is the glaring obvious fact that communion should indeed take a while so that spiritual communions can be made sufficiently with the physical ones.
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  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Communion rails make skipping people who shouldn't receive Holy Communion much easier. (There's a scene in Au Revoir Les Enfants which demonstrates this.)
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